There was no escaping the powerful storms that pushed through Northeast Ohio Wednesday night, as the Mudcats were delayed during their game in Virginia. The Mudcats were in the middle of an offensive outburst when the rains came down and, after the tarp was rolled back up, they continued assaulting the opposition. The Eastern League All-Star game in New Britain, Connecticut was also delayed, though there were fewer fireworks in that game. To read all about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

The Carolina Mudcats came back from a Tuesday night shutout to beat the Lynchburg Hillcats 15-8, at Calvin Falwell Field. The Mudcats improved to 9-10 this half and 31-58 overall and the Hillcats dropped to 5-12 this half and 41-45 overall.

The Carolina Mudcats ended a four-game winning streak with a 4-0 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats Tuesday night. The Mudcats set a franchise record with 16 strikeouts in their second game in a series at Calvin Falwell Field.

Tony takes a look at 10 of the hottest hitters in the organization from Double-A Akron to rookie level Arizona – some names you know well and some you don’t. The players are not ranked, but are listed by level and include the likes of Tyler Holt, Jose Ramirez, Joey Wendle, Jeremy Lucas, Dorssys Paulino, Anthony Santander, Logan Vick, Nellie Rodriguez, Clint Frazier and Joel Mejia. He provides insight into what kind of prospect each player is, their upside, their strengths and weaknesses, and some statistical trends as well.

ZEBULON – The Carolina Mudcats got one of their most complete games of the season as the pitching dominated and the offense took advantage of some timely pitching mistakes to earn a 7-2 win over the Salem Red Sox on Saturday night.

On the final night of Independence Day extravaganza, the Carolina Mudcats wanted to provide fireworks all night, and did in a 9-0 win over the Salem Red Sox on Friday night. The win boosts Carolina’s record to 5-9 in the second half and 27-57 overall.

A very happy Fourth of July to you! We at IBI hope you had a great holiday and enjoyed a little time off. There was no time off in the minor leagues Thursday, as all of Cleveland's affiliates were in action. Some did a little worse than others (like a pair of four-hit outings in Columbus and Carolina), though there were plenty of good performances, including some impressive pitching and hitting in Lake County. To read all about Thursday in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

Mike Augliera and the Salem Red Sox held the Carolina Mudcats to four hits in a 3-0 win on Thursday night at Five County Stadium. The Mudcats fell to 4-9 in the second half, and 26-57 on the year. Salem improved to 8-6 in the second half, and 41-43 on the year.

A very Happy Fourth of July to all of the IBI readers! What better to celebrate our independence than good food, fireworks, and another edition of Minor Happenings! In today’s abbreviated version of the Happenings on the Indians farm (still over 2300 words), Tony takes a long look at the emerging star that is second baseman Joey Wendle and just how good of a prospect he really is for the Indians. He also provides tons of comments from Ross Atkins on Clint Frazier, Mitch Brown, Kieran Lovegrove, Juan Herrera, and many others.

Sometimes greatness can spoil people. Francisco Lindor could spend almost every night atop Around The Farm, though sometimes we can take his all-around excellence for granted. Lindor is one of the transcendent prospects in the game of baseball and is the kind of talent every team wants in its system. The shortstop was at it again Wednesday night, along with plenty of other players throughout the system. To read all about them, join Jim Piascik as he goes Around The Farm.

The Carolina Mudcats finished their series against the Lynchburg Hillcats Wednesday night at Five County Stadium, defeating the Hillcats 5-4. Starting right-handed pitcher Michael Peoples tossed 5.1 innings for the Mudcats, allowing four earned runs on five hits.

In this week’s first edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the big month that outfielder Carlos Moncrief had and just what kind of prospect he is for the Indians. He also checks in on the progress that right-handed pitcher Dylan Baker is making this season, provides several comments from the front office on players in the upper levels like Bryan Price, Jose Ramirez, Jose Flores, Ronny Rodriguez, Enosil Tejeda and others, and offers up updates and insight into the development of Toru Murata, Shawn Morimando, Juan Romero, Anderson Polanco and more!

Last week Tony posted the first part of the IBI Stock Watch with a look at the players at Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron that are either raising or lowering their prospect value halfway through the 2013 season. Today, he takes a look at some of those showings at the High-A Carolina level, players like Joey Wendle, Francisco Lindor, Tyler Naquin, Jerrud Sabourin, Shawn Morimando, Bryson Myles, Bo Greenwell, and many others.

The Indians got a sensational performance on the mound on Sunday from Low-A right-handed pitcher Dylan Baker, and he has really strung together some good starts of late. Tony touches on him and many other players that were in action on Sunday from Akron to Arizona.

Carolina jumped out to an early lead, and held on against Salem as they avoided the sweep by a final score of 5-3 on Sunday night. The win ends a four game losing streak, and brings Carolina’s record to 3-7 in the second half and 25-55 overall.

SALEM – For the second straight night, the Carolina Mudcats lost to the Salem Red Sox on a walk-off hit, 7-5 on Saturday night. The loss drops the Mudcats’ record to 2-7 in the second half and 24-55 overall.

Less than two months ago High-A Carolina left fielder Bryson Miles could barely brush his teeth. He’d dove for a ball at Harry Grove Stadium and landed the wrong way, leading to a painful shoulder subluxation. Since then he has been working to get back to 100%, and the IBI's Jacqueline Kantor recently caught up with him to see how he is progressing.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!